Big Apple Coaster

About

The Big Apple Coaster (formerly Manhattan Express and The Roller Coaster) is a steel roller coaster at the New York-New York Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, United States. The ride's trains are themed to New York City taxicabs. Opened on January 3, 1997, it is the only roller coaster by Japanese roller coaster manufacturer TOGO still operating in North America. The ride travels on a 4,777 ft (1,456 m) track. It contains a 180-foot (55 m) lift hill and a 76-foot (23 m) first drop, followed by a hill and another 144-foot (44 m) drop. The ride also has two inversions: a standard vertical loop and a dive loop.

The ride was constructed as part of the New York-New York Hotel and Casino, which was developed by MGM and Primadonna Resorts. Completed at a cost of $18 million, the coaster was known as Manhattan Express when it opened along with the resort on January 3, 1997. In the months after the ride opened, Clark County building officials shut it down several times over safety issues, and many of the ride's steel tension rods had to be replaced. After some modifications by Premier Rides in the mid-2000s, the Manhattan Express was renamed The Roller Coaster in 2007 before being renamed the Big Apple Coaster in 2013. The ride introduced a virtual reality option in 2018, and Premier Rides provided new trains featuring softer vest restraints in 2021.